If you havent heard, Sledgehammer Games has officially announced that they are making Call of Duty 2014. This also confirms that their is a 3 Dev cycle now which goes: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and then Treyarch. As we all know Treyarch are the creators of the ZOMBIES mode and with them not developing we are clearly not seeing it this year. Hopefully this longer time period gives Treyarch extra time to create the best ZOMBIES experience ever!!!

One thing that is promising for zombies still coming this year, is all the zombie EEs that were in MW3. Sledgehammer worked on MW3 and the campaign and multiplayer had zombie EEs in them. The biggest one being the Sam drawing on the wall where she was holding her teddy bear and a sledgehammer. Another possible hint at Sledgehammer continuing a form of zombies, is the hammer drawing in the beginning of Tranzit on the pole. Whether or not thats good for Zombies and if they are even doing anything zombie related, I'm very curious to see what Sledgehammer does have up their sleeves. Without zombies, I probably won't buy it, but still very curious.

Well the founders of Sledgehammer Worked together (before the formation of Sledgehammer) on the first Dead Space. I for one loved that game and still play it occasionally even if I know every time I'm going to be attacked. So I believe with at least just that game on their resume is plenty enough to show me they could make a twisted zombies experience. I see their maps leaning towards the dark, harsh, gritty, type of feel akin to maps such as origins and MOTD rather than the lackluster feel of the maps with the N4, fridge, and bank in them. I can't wait to see what they have. I know its gotta be creepier than Extinction.

Sledgehammer have worked on zombie maps in the past, and Raven Software themselves made Kino Der Toten, so seeing another company try their hands at zombies would not be a bad thing.

For a start, it would still be made on the same game engine, so would still look and feel pretty much the same. Also, taking Kino as a reference, that particular map does not contain very many glitches and is one of the best maps ever made. Treyarch had no part in that maps development, so it is proof that another developer could do a job.

I also love Dead Space and think that Sledgehammer could get the atmosphere back to the old days if they had the opportunity. Still, not sure if it will be the case though.

They assisted on Der Riese and Shangri La with the campaign team I believe. I know they worked on them, but it was just modelling and stuff. Not the actual mapping. Raven made Kino in it's entirety. It was supposed to be DLC 4 on WaW, but time constraints meant they included it in BO1, and because they had time, Treyarch made Five and that is why we got 2 maps with the game. It still contained the Nazi references that Treyarch tried to filter out on BO1, so this is why Kino was the last to feature 'Nazi Zombies'.

Well, aside from Kino, no other map in BO1 has Nazi References, and the only reason Kino did was because it was made for WaW originally, and as the map was complete, they decided to include it in BO1 along side Five.

An edited version available in Germany had the Nazi flags taken out I believe.

Here's a thought; this extra time they've been granted should now be plenty enough to release some sort of updated Radiant or an equivalent. I'd be thoroughly interested in seeing custom maps of a higher caliber. Custom maps have come a long way, sure, but they're still a bit of an eyesore running that IW3 engine.

I agree. No matter how much effort is put into a custom map, it will never look any better than WaW does, and it does indeed look very dated already.

I cannot see the radiant tools ever getting released, but if they do it will probably be when the CoD franchise moves over to next-gen permanently and only then it will be because it will look dated somewhat and won't prove to be any solid competition to the main CoD titles.

WaW sold more copies on PC after radiant was released for it than it did before hand, and it might be incentive enough to see them try and beat the life out of BO1 & BO2 through steam sales. They know it will make them a return, but who knows.

I heard it was IW that was actually holding up a release due to the BO1 & BO2 versions of the engine having stuff in it that they did not want the public to gain access to. That could just be hearsay though.

WWhy can't they just release map pack for black ops? 10$ a map. Think it would be less overhead, and generate cash flow for a body of work already delivered. Nothing tangible needed to be produced and could clean up any of the mess while congruently working for the 2015 release. If they were to drop another dlc, you already know each and every persons on both side of the forum would get it. Unless there's a non compete clause in their contracts with cod.

If I were Treyarch I would be worried about someone else taking their spot light away. I almost question if bringing sledgehammer in isn't a way to push either treyarch or infinity ward out. If that is true though treyarch is losing money for atleast another year which surely can't be helpful.

If this is true I must say I absolutely love the irony behind Treyarch having to wait an extra year to release their game after they make PS fans wait an extra month for their DLC. As a fan I only like call of duty for the zombies experience which has been going downhill and I think an extra year should be more than enough time to get any desire to play zombies out of my system, on top of which if the fan base is there it's only a matter of time before someone makes a much better zombie game in the time treyarch is whittling their thumbs in their butts. Delaying things is never a good thing and the only thing it shows me is instability in the company.

Treyarch are contracted to make games for Activision. It is a set cost they are paid and there is no asking for monies until that contract is over. Treyarch HAVE to make the games they are asked to and by the deadlines given to them, or they void their contract.

Activision has only brought a third development team on as the game is losing popularity and they want to beat that horse until it is truly dead, so giving the devs an extra year with the game means they should get a better return for their money.

Treyarch does what Activision tells them... at least for the time being.

Oh ok cool. So I guess they get paid a "salary" instead of by the game, and they just produce what they are told to produce from Activision. Well I hope they come up with something good for 2015. I'm ready for an epic zombie experience.

This is literally one of the most depressing things that I have heard in a while. I was gearing up for another zombies season. I've had so much fun over the last 14 months playing, and theorizing. Extinction is trash. Zombies is so simple and good. I have ZERO faith in any other mode, or any other game maker.

Nope, but Treyarch would be stupid as heck if they didn't include it in their next title. Zombies is what Treyarch's titles are known for. Whenever people speak of a new Treyarch CoD title, they mention Zombies more than anything. So, I guess it's nearly already confirmed without anyone confirming it

As for the 3 year cycle, my first thoughts were "NO!". I was so looking forward to Zombies this year. And waiting over 1 and a half year for a new title with Zombies is really a pain in the arse. So I got really disappointed when I heard this...

On the good side, I've changed my mind. Sure, it sucks we won't get Zombies this year, but if we just learn to be patient, we will get paid for it; giving Treyarch another whole year to work with will make a HUGE difference. Imagine what we got in BO2. When it was released, we had a full game. Imagine what they could have done with another WHOLE NEW year with development on it!! :O So at the bright side, we know that Zombies will come back bigger than ever before! So, at least we have something to look forward to for the next 1-2 years.

Oh, and I'm also very interested in what Sledgehammer Games can give us. You can see which CoDs that are made by IW and which is made by 3Arc; they have their own style. Now as we get a brand new company (or, not really new, though), we don't know how this CoD might be, so I'm very curious!

I agree. I want a little variety. I'd prefer something new with something old. BOs gave us Kino which was a lot like the old maps, and Five which had a lot of new features, like the elevators splitting the map and the new boss. And we also got the extra Dead Ops mini game. I would have been very happy if BO2 had given us Tranzit as it is, with a real EE though and a few small things hidden through out the map, kind of like the old radios. Not just the one TV and two bland sides to the tower. And instead of all the small maps like Depot, Farm, and Town, I would have much rather had a one extra map that felt different. Like a prebombed version of the Town that included the church and bowling alley and maybe upstairs of the bank or laundromat. Something with a few doors to open, looks different than Tranzit, and plays like the older maps. If they would have given us just that, and then released the small maps and grief mode with the DLCs, I would have been a lot happier, and they would have been able to concentrate on two good maps for release instead of all the extra things they tried. With an extra year to work on it, I hope they don't try too much again and only give us a rush job like we got with BO2s release.

anyone think that SH might just be reworking all the existing maps? activision knows we want the maps all on one disc. SH isnt a complete stranger to zombies and could just have the old maps BO1 and BO2 (not sure if theyd go back to W@W but itd be nice) and just make them look better among other things. (i could list them but we've had plenty of discussions about this) would this be possible or do they have to do something new?